Voters must “fight back” against presidential candidates who oppose the use of fracking to produce natural gas, said the head of the country’s largest business lobby.
U.S. Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Tom Donohue said Monday that in the candidates’ “hunt for primary election votes, the truth sometimes suffers,” and this “election cycle the truth about hydraulic fracturing certainly has.”
In a commentary issued by the Chamber, called “Setting the Record Straight on Fracking,” Donohue appears to be going after comments made this month by Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, although he mentions no one directly.
Sanders has said he would like to ban the practice of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, which entails injecting large amounts of water and sand underground to break up shale rock to release oil and gas deposits. The practice has made the U.S. a leading global producer of natural gas and crude oil, shaking up world markets and making the nation less dependent on imports.
Clinton has said she supports the use of natural gas as a way to transition to more renewable energy such as wind and solar, but would likely support similar actions to the Obama administration in placing more regulations on frackers.
Donohue wants voters to tell the candidates the truth if they hear them opposing hydraulic fracturing, he said in Monday’s commentary.
“Next time you hear a candidate attack fracking, fight back with the truth,” he said. “Doing so will be good for our economy, the environment and energy security.”
He said the U.S. “is in the midst of a true energy revolution,” after decades of “fear over potential energy scarcity.” Now, “we’re in an era of energy abundance,” Donohue said. “Americans deserve to hear that story, and they deserve a policy based on facts.”
“Here’s the truth about natural gas production: It’s safe, produces well-paying jobs, and saves consumers billions of dollars,” he said.
Donohue’s comments come as U.S. natural gas storage has remained high over the mild winter, which has kept prices at historic lows and is driving the nation toward generating more of its electricity from natural gas than from coal for the first time.
The swell in natural gas storage also has caused producers to curb drilling, which is resulting in more layoffs in shale-gas producing states.
Donohue notes that more regulations on frackers is not the right course, underscoring the Obama administration’s recent proposal to cut methane emissions from all production wells as part of his broad climate change agenda.
“The debate wasn’t helped recently by the administration, which will use its waning days to develop new methane emissions regulations, imposing further needless regulation on natural gas,” Donohue said.
Methane is considered several times more potent than carbon dioxide in its ability to warm the Earth’s climate by increasing the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Many scientists blame the manmade emissions for causing global warming, resulting in more severe weather, droughts and flooding.
